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Every team will tell you that they badly need to win their bowl game. You’d be suspicious if they said winning wasn’t the priority. But some programs need a check in the win column worse than others.
Here is a look at the SEC’s bowl teams and a quick breakdown of how badly they need to close out their respective seasons with a bowl victory.
THE PLAYOFF TEAM
Every game is a must-win when you’re in the College Football Playoff. Alabama is the only team to qualify in both years under the new postseason format and is looking to avenge a loss in last year’s semifinals to eventual champs Ohio State. The Buckeyes’ nemesis Michigan State comes calling this year in the Cotton Bowl, looking to quash the Tide’s season and lay to rest any talk about the SEC being superior to the Big Ten. There has been plenty of chatter in the past few weeks questioning the strength of this year’s Crimson Tide, given what some perceive to be a down year for the conference.
A title would also be sweet redemption for Alabama quarterback Jake Coker, who was never a resounding favorite in Tuscaloosa after transferring from Florida State. Coker was a steady presence for the Tide (2,489 yards, 17 TDs), and has Alabama in line to contend for their third title in the last five years.
THE NEW YEAR’S SIX
Make that the New Year’s One. Ole Miss is the lone SEC team playing in the New Year’s Six games, squaring up against Oklahoma State in the Sugar Bowl. The Rebels feel as if a College Football Playoff berth was in their grasp, only to see it whisked away on a miracle play that cost them their second loss in a wild game against Arkansas.
A win on Bourbon Street also gives some validity to Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly, who, like Jake Coker in Alabama, arrived in Oxford with more doubters than supporters. Kelly put up a monster year (3,740 yards, 27 TDs), but a Sugar Bowl loss doesn’t tarnish the Rebels’ season to badly.
THE OTHERS
Arkansas and Tennessee enter the bowl season arguably needing a win the most. Both the Razorbacks and Volunteers were dark-horse picks in the preseason to win their divisions, but faltered early as teams such as Toledo and Oklahoma exposed weaknesses in their respective armor. A win for Tennessee over Iowa in the Outback Bowl gives them six consecutive victories to close out the season; and has to make them an early SEC East favorite heading into next year (yes, I know, that’s the Tennessee mantra). This is the Vols’ chance to prove they can put away a big-time opponent late in a game when it counts.
At 7-5, Arkansas is the true Jekyll and Hyde of the SEC. The Razorbacks are capable of blowing your doors off one week, then coming out flat the next. Bret Bielema did a lot of talking about strength of schedule this season, here’s his chance to prove his team’s, and conference’s, mettle against a Big 12 foe in Kansas State in the Liberty Bowl.
Florida also needs to win to stop its recent slide in which the Gators’ offense has already burrowed underground for the winter. Jim McElwain’s squad won the SEC East in his first year on the sidelines, but not many people are giving his team a chance, given their recent struggles, to beat Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.
Bowl wins are the goal for the SEC’s two Bulldog squads, especially at Georgia, who will face Penn State in the TaxSlayer Bowl under interim head coach Bryan McClendon. The same can be said for Mississippi State against N.C. State in the Belk Bowl, where the Bulldogs says goodbye to Dak Prescott, the greatest quarterback in program history.
Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M find themselves in turf battles for recruits. Auburn can score some recruiting points in their home state — and a record above .500 — with a win over Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl. Texas A&M can make some inroads in Memphis’ home state with a win over Louisville in Nashville’s Music City Bowl. The Aggies, after all, are quite familiar with Nashville, having played Vanderbilt there in the regular season in late November.
Leonard Fournette and the LSU Tigers can finish on a high note after contending for the SEC West for the majority of the season with a Texas-sized win over Texas Tech in the Texas Bowl. The game will be the first since the school decided to retain head coach Les Miles. The Tigers need a win or you never know what the rumor mill will kick up next.
Chris Wuensch is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers South Carolina and Tennessee.
